That's What Friends Are For
by neon flights
Summary: It's almost Christmas and everyone is looking happy. Well, almost everyone. A nice fuzzy friendship fic! [oneshot, has a special message!]


Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko or any songs I use in this fanfic.

I _was_ going to post this closer to Christmas, but I thought I might as well write it now while the idea's in my head.

A nice, warm and fuzzy friendship fic for all. With a little angst in the mix. :3 Has a special author note at the end!

* * *

It was a fun snowy day at Kadic Junior High, and it was getting closer and closer to Christmas Day.

You may think that it's only the little ones that get so excited at this time of year. At Kadic, this is an understatement.

Ulrich watched in amusement as Odd dashed around their dorm.

'What are you so excited about, Odd?' he asked, already knowing the answer.

Odd stared at him. 'Do you know _anything_? It's almost Christmas Eve!'

'So?'

'SO? Whaddya mean 'so'?'

'It's not that big a deal.'

Odd pouted and continued his little happy dash around the dorm.

Ulrich grinned to himself. His parents promised him that they'd go out for a family day on Christmas Eve, which was very special to him since his parents were always doing something. Spending some quality time with his parents was going to be great.

'Are you going to ask Yumi out to the Christmas Dance tonight?' Odd asked him out of them blue.

'Well…I dunno…maybe.' Ulrich replied with a slight blush. Thankfully, Odd didn't see.

'I still think it should be tomorrow night,' the blonde haired boy continued, 'If it was on Christmas Eve, there'd be twice as much food!'

Ulrich chuckled to himself. _Typical Odd. Always thinking about his next meal._

Odd shot up in the air and grabbed Ulrich by his sleeve and started to spin him around.

'What the hell are you doing?'

'C'mon Ulrich! We gotta get ready for the dance tonight!'

'As soon as you stop spinning me, it' be a great help!'

Odd laughed as he let go and dashed out the door with his towel. Ulrich tottered after him.

What Ulrich didn't know, was that Odd stuck something in the pocket of the jeans that he was going to wear that night.

* * *

A shower, clothes and lots of hair adjusting later, Ulrich and Odd were all spiffed up for the dance.

Odd was wearing a purple shirt with a tiger stripe imprint with black jeans and white trainers.

Ulrich was wearing a Famous Stars and Straps (don't own that either. My brother wears their stuff all the time) shirt with blue jeans and for some reason, a blue scarf.

'Why the blue scarf?' asked Odd, wondering why Ulrich chose such a mismatching garment.

'This?' his friend replied, holding up the end of the scarf with a snowman on it. 'Oh, it's just a gift.'

'From Yumi?'

'No.'

'So it is.'

'It's not.'

'You did this with your Valentine's Day poem, and it's not going to work now.'

Ulrich glared at him. 'Fine! If you really must know, it from my dead grandmother, HAPPY?'

He stormed out the door, leaving an uneasy feeling in the dorm.

Odd stared after him. _Nice one, Odd. _Big_ nice one._

'I'll never understand him.' He said quietly as he walked out of the room.

* * *

Ulrich was still storming down the steps to the gym.

'I can't believe that jerk! Everything even remotely strange I have automatically comes up to Yumi. Yumi, Yumi, ALWAYS YUMI, DAMNIT!'

He quickened his pace. 'How could Odd have been so heartless?' he said in a sad tone, before realising he'd gone too far past the gym.

On his way back, his cellphone started to ring but he didn't notice.

It rang again, Ulrich did hear it this time. _Voicemail? Odd, mustn't have heard it._

'…it's mom?'

* * *

The decorative quality of the Christmas Dance was quite impressive.

The colours of the place were great. Red, green, gold, white and silver streamers, balloons, tinsel and banners as far as the eye could see.

On a table at one side lay an assortment of pastries, candies and drinks for the students to enjoy.

And the students were enjoying alright.

Yumi frowned as she looked around the gym full of dancing students. She wore the same clothes as she did when XANA unleashed the giant teddy bear to destroy the city, except she had a small red rose barrette in her hair.

Where's Ulrich? I never saw him come in. Unless he's late? No, Ulrich's never late. This is so unlike him…

She could see Aelita and Jeremie talking and laughing at the seats at the side. Yumi giggled, they looked so cute together.

At that moment, the doors burst open. Yumi turned to see Ulrich with the most depressing face one could have.

He swiftly shoved past her.

'Hey!' she called angrily, but remembered seeing the sadness in his eyes meant that something wasn't right.

You can probably guess what happened. Read the first section again if you haven't figured it out.

But Yumi didn't know this, so she followed him.

He was leaning against the wall of the darkest corner in the whole gym. His face was down and his hands were in his pockets.

'Ulrich?'

'Oh, hello Yumi.' He said, without raising his head to look at her.

_He sounds so hard…_

'Everything alright?'

'Yeah…great…'

'Are you sure?'

Ulrich looked up at her.

'If you want to know so badly, then why don't you go ask Odd? He's the one who made me feel so _great_ in the first place!' he said angrily, before handing her his cellphone and storming outside.

Yumi stared after him, then at his mobile, then back again. Why'd he give her that?

She abandoned the thought as she looked around for Odd. She needed answers, and Yumi knew it wasn't going to be too hard to find him.

Shouts and roars were heard near the snack table.

'GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!'

Yumi pushed herself through the crowd to see Odd trying to eat a bucket of mini apple pies.

_…uh._

She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away, ignoring the 'aww's and 'boo's.

Odd swallowed. 'What's the big idea, huh? I was on my way to a free $10!'

'Do you know why Ulrich's acting so strange this morning?'

'Ulrich's always strange. You know…' he waved his arms in a circle. 'Mr Mystery?'

'No, he's been acting different. First he nearly knocked the doors down to get in, then he shoved past me without apologising,' Odd's eyes widened.

'After that he said something to me that didn't make sense, something about asking you, gave me his cellphone and stormed back out again.' Yumi finished with a wave of Ulrich's mobile.

Odd covered his face with his hand. 'Man, I must have really bothered him…'

'What'd you do?'

'Ohhh, I asked him why he was wearing such a weird scarf to the dance since it stuck out so badly, I asked if it was from you (Yumi stared at him) and then he freaked out and ran out the door. I haven't seen him since.'

Yumi frowned again and look outside. 'Where could he have gone?'

'I'm sure he'll come back later on, don't worry.'

* * *

But he didn't.

Ulrich wasn't back in his and Odd's dorm the next morning. Or anywhere in the grounds.

It was snowing really badly, to top it all off.

This time it was Yumi's turn to freak out that morning.

'I don't get it!' she said worriedly, 'He's nowhere around the grounds and it's really cold outside. OH MY GOD! What if he froze to death! No, it can't be!'

The rest of the gang grew to ignore her cries of distress throughout the day.

Since it was the last day of term, it was half day and Yumi was still worrying about Ulrich.

'He's going to miss the tree lighting thing, whatever it was called…' she said sadly.

Kadic always had a tradition of turning on the lights of a huge tree they had near the front gate at the last day of term. It was always a great thing to see, but Yumi didn't want Ulrich to miss it.

'That's it!' Yumi said finally, 'I'm going out to find him!'

Jeremie watched her run off into the park. 'Wait, Yumi! We'll come too!'

'Do you think Ulrich's ok?' Aelita asked Jeremie worriedly.

'I wouldn't worry.' Odd said with a grin. 'He's a tough guy, I'm sure he's fine.'

But that didn't dampen Yumi's resolve.

* * *

'I can't believe I stayed out here the whole night.' Ulrich said to himself, shivering in the cold.

The brunette just stormed off into the forest and wandered around the trees after his episode with Yumi.

'I can't believe my mom said that she was with dad at some damn meeting thing.' He muttered, rubbing his hands together. 'Is it so much to ask for a simple family trip?'

Ulrich shivered again. He didn't know it was so cold. He didn't even know where he was.

'I have to stay awake, otherwise I'll never get out of here…'

He pushed himself through the cold wind, getting pelted by the falling snow.

Ulrich never noticed a wolf that was padding up beside him, and it jumped up and grabbed Ulrich's scarf before running off.

'HEY! GET BACK HERE!'

But he was too late, it was snowing too badly to see where the canine went. He muttered something very unpleasant about the wolf before trudging through the snow again.

There was something glowing in the distance. Ulrich squinted his eyes to see what it was.

_Great. Out of all the random objects in the world, it has to be a Christmas tree. What gives?_

He walked up to it and watched as the lights all glittered with bright colours, before flashing off and then on again.

Sighing, Ulrich breathed into his hands and stuck them in his pockets to keep them warm.

But he felt something in his pocket. He took it out.

It was a Christmas tree light bulb.

* * *

'ULRICH!' Yumi called, as it echoed throughout the grounds.

'It's no use Yumi,' Jeremie sighed, 'Screaming his name every five seconds won't make him suddenly pop out. He might even be unconscious.'

Yumi didn't say anything. She just stared out into space.

Odd and Aelita gave Jeremie a look that said 'well done, just make her feel even better'.

It took them a few minutes to realise that Yumi has ran ahead.

'Hey Yumi! WAIT FOR US!' cried Odd as they ran up to catch up with her.

They caught up to her eventually, but they didn't expect to crash into her.

'Hey, what's the big idea?' Odd said, looking at her face. It was a look of confusion, slight happiness, wonder and admiration.

Aelita turned to face the same direction Yumi was facing, so did Odd and Jeremie.

It was Ulrich staring at a Christmas tree. If you suddenly landed here you'd think 'huh?'.

They watched as one of the lights flickered off. Ulrich reached out, unscrewed the blown light and replaced it with the one in his hand.

Odd didn't understand. 'What's he doing?' he asked stupidly.

The light he replaced glowed brighter than it did before, almost blindingly. Ulrich has to cover his eyes.

Yumi was running towards him.

'ULRICH! YOU'RE OK!' she cried as jumped on top of Ulrich, making them fall over.

'OW! What's going on?'

'You're not dead! Hooray!' Odd sang, dancing around him. Aelita giggled as Jeremie watched the tree again.

'I was so worried!' said Yumi, as she helped Ulrich up. 'You just wandered off without telling us!'

She hugged him tightly, which caused Ulrich to blush.

'Can I breathe now, Yumi?'

'Oh, sorry.'

She let go of him. 'Why'd you seem so angry this morning?'

Ulrich circled the snow on the ground with his foot. 'Well, my parents were supposed to take me out for some quality time, but they changed their mind at the last minute. I didn't have anywhere to go.'

'But why didn't you tell us?'

'I didn't want to. Just to give you clues on what happened. That's why I gave you my cellphone.'

Yumi looked at her phone. 'There's a voicemail here. I'm so stupid.'

'Yes, you are.'

'Hey!'

Ulrich laughed. 'Kidding! Kidding!'

Aelita was glad to see him acting like his normal self again.

'Actually,' Odd started shyly, 'I have the same problem. I don't have anywhere to go either.'

'Us too.' Jeremie and Aelita said simultaneously.

Ulrich's eyes widened. 'You mean you guys were the same as me? Why didn't you tell us?'

'Yeah, you all could have stayed at my house. My parent's wouldn't mind.' Yumi said confusedly.

Odd cleared his throat before beginning in a bad impersonation of Ulrich's voice. 'Well, my parents were supposed to take me out for some qual-'

At that moment, a huge blob of snow landed on his head. The rest of them laughed hysterically.

'Haha, very funny.' He said sarcastically, wiping the snow off his face.

Odd gave an evil grin.

'SNOWBALL FIGHT!'

It started with Odd throwing one at Ulrich but instead hitting Aelita, then Yumi threw one at Jeremie, and it all went crazy at that point.

Ulrich grinned as he bent over to pick up another ball of snow.

_That's the best thing about having friends…_

'CATAPULT!' Odd yelled before dumping a pile of snow on everyone.

_When one of us is feeling down, we just get together…_

'Jeremie! I feel really cold!'

_And have a great time…_

'Don't worry Aelita! It won't hurt you!'

_Then our sadness, just like the snowflakes…_

They all fell to the ground, still laughing underneath the starry sky.

_Miraculously drift away…

* * *

_

'This is it! Finally!'

The students watched as Jim placed his hands on the switch.

'3! 2! 1!'

The lights were turned on.

'YAYYY! HURRAH!'

Mr Delmas came out with a big smile on his face. 'Students of Kadic, I wish you all have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!'

'C'mon everyone!' Odd cried, 'Let's sing a song just for the heck of it!'

_We wish you a Merry Christmas_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas_

_We wish you a Merry Christmas_

_And a happy New Year!_

_Good tidings we bring_

_To you and your kin_ ('To whose kin?' asked Aelita confusedly)

_Good tidings for Christmas_

_And a happy New Year!

* * *

_

Yes, a very cheesy ending. Hope you all enjoyed it! This was inspired by the Ed, Edd 'n Eddy Christmas special. Recognise a few things?

I'd like to thank a few people:

**Schnozberry, Long lost sorrow, Irish Miraluka and everyone else (you know who you are!):** For being great readers!

**Everyone on my authors list and people I have reviewed for:** For being such great writers!

**Everyone who's reading this:** This is the most important. Thank you everyone who read this, because this is practically my Christmas present to the CL fanfiction community!

Have a great Christmas everybody! (even thought this is a week too early!)

- _From Jet, Tekirai, Purrykitten, Nyobot, Majik, meh, and the whole gang of weird and wacky OCs that belong to Katfish._


End file.
